Librarians have ALWAYS been hot

I have no idea how long the Hot Librarian stereotype has been, as the young folks say, a Thing, but clearly it existed back in 1965.

Why is the SC state library throwing away dumpsters full of books?

While the library informed a book seller, public libraries and universities about the surplus books, little to no effort was made to inform the general public, charities or schools.

2012 Voter’s Guide: The Library Advocate’s Guide to the Voting Records of the New York State Legislature

The New Yorkers for Better Libraries PAC has released its 2012 Voter’s Guide: The Library Advocate’s Guide to the Voting Records of the New York State Legislature.

The Voter’s Guide, published since 2001, grade NYS legislators on their voting records concerning library funding and legislative issues.

Scores are calculated based on library aid in the state budget; sponsorship of library priority legislation; recorded votes on library legislation, and letters of support (in the Assembly). The grading scale is based on the number of total points each legislator receives in each category. More details can be found within the Guide.

The guide has also been posted on the New York Library Association’s website, www.nyla.org.

Education in Finland

In a piece in Metroland, Solidarity With Chicago by Miriam Axel-Lute, she talks about the mixed results of charter schools. Then she indicated:

But it also made me think of a stunning article from last December in the Atlantic about Finland, called What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland’s School Success, Finland, on account of its startlingly high scores on international comparisons of educational attainment (even compared to its demographically similar Scandinavian neighbors), has become a bit of a mecca for education reformers. We have oohed-and-aahed at how they don’t push standardized testing, don’t push early reading, encourage play-based learning longer.

But, according to the Atlantic article, what we can’t seem to get our brains around is that the foundation of the current Finnish education system is almost the opposite of our beloved idea of “school choice.” It’s this: equity. “The main driver of Finnish education policy has been the idea that every child should have exactly the same opportunity to learn, regardless of family background, income, or geographic location,” says the Atlantic. They feed all the kids healthy meals and give them access to health care. They have no private schools at all. They give their teachers “prestige, decent pay, and a lot of responsibility” (and independence). Schools with high numbers of immigrants . . . do just as well as other schools.

They don’t aim for excellence. They aim to bring everyone along and level the playing field. And they get . . . excellence.

11 Amazing Librarian Tattoos

There are plenty of literary tattoos out there, and plenty of tattooed librarians. A bit less common are librarians with tattoos celebrating their career choic

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